The described technology relates generally to program guides and specifically to improvements for electronic program guides.
Electronic program guides have been used extensively to allow users to view programming information for available television channels and to select which television channel to watch. Electronic program guides are typically provided by set-top boxes that are connected to a content feed (e.g., cable or satellite) and to a television on the other end. Set-top boxes may access programming information (e.g., channel, title, and start time) provided through the content feed (e.g., on a designated channel) and generate a display of that information referred to as an electronic program guide. Electronic program guides are generally displayed in a grid format with start time information displayed horizontally and channel information displayed vertically. Each cell of the grid may contain the title on the content. Set-top boxes typically allow a user to use a remote control to scroll through and select a channel to be watched.
Although electronic program guides help a viewer to locate and select a channel that the viewer wants to watch, some capabilities provided by current electronic program guides are more difficult than they need to be. For example, current electronic program guides typically allow a user to view programming information for days other than the current day. These electronic program guides, however, may force a user to take multiple actions to view program listings for another day. Similarly, electronic program guides typically have different formatted guides for different types of content. For example, one format may be used for displaying television programming information, another format may be used for video-on-demand programming information, and a different format may be used to display web content information. Since electronic program guides are typically controlled by remote controls, navigation from one screen to another can be difficult. As a result, minimizing the number of navigation steps is desirable.
It is well known that some content is objectionable to some viewers. For example, some viewers may find X-rated movies objectionable. Some television systems allow users to filter out such objectionable content so that when the content is selected it cannot be viewed. Electronic program guides list the titles of such objectionable content. Some viewers may find even such titles objectionable.
It would be desirable to have an electronic program guide that would minimize problems associated with current electronic program guides.